Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/981887
60 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2018 by Dan Beaulieu Mark Thompson wants to help PCB design- ers. He's seen it all in CAM support at Pro- totron Circuits: the incomplete or inaccurate data packages, boards that are unnecessarily complex or over-constrained, and so much more. As technical customer liaison, Mark leads tours of Prototron's facility in Redmond, Washington, often providing PCB designers and design engineers their first glimpse inside a board shop. Mark just returned to writing his popular Design007 Magazine column, The Bare (Board) Truth, which addresses questions such as, "What happens to your design at CAM?" I've known Mark for years, and it's always a pleasure to get a chance to talk with him. In our interview, I asked Mark to explain why it's so important for designers to communi- cate with their fabricators, and why they need to get out of the office and visit a board shop every now and then. Dan Beaulieu: Good morning, Mark. Good to see you again. I have a few questions for you. Mark Thompson: Fire away! Beaulieu: So, why should PCB designers talk to board shops? Thompson: Excellent question, straight to the point. The answer is, because designers need to understand fabrication needs, and we as fabricators need to know their needs. Since we primarily deal with prototypes here at Pro- totron, most of the parts we see are first-run prototypes, and we have the potential to find unforeseen errors that need to be aired out before production. Board applications have changed so vastly over the years that it is difficult, if not impos- sible, for a fabricator to attempt to guess at a customer's intentions. Nor should he try! That's where a simple conversation between